Starting From Zero
Chapter 18 - Starting From Zero
"Have dinner with me."
I smiled into the phone.
"We have dinner all the time."
"No."
Grant took a breath.
"A real dinner."
"Grant—"
"Same restaurant."
My smile disappeared.
"The rooftop?"
"Yes."
I almost said no.
Then I realized I was tired of allowing one terrible memory to own a beautiful place.
"All right."
A week later, I walked beneath the same string lights.
Grant was waiting at the same table.
There was no expensive champagne.
No anniversary cake.
No grand gesture.
Just two glasses of water and one small photograph lying facedown.
I stopped.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Grant laughed.
"Turn it over."
I did.
It was a new photograph.
Grant and Eli.
Both covered in flour.
Apparently attempting to bake a birthday cake.
On the back, Grant had written:
No more hidden pictures.
My eyes filled.
He stood.
"I brought you here because this is where the life we had ended."
I looked at him.
"And?"
"And I'm wondering whether something honest can start in the same place."
He didn't produce a ring.
Thank God.
He didn't ask me to forget.
He didn't ask me to erase nine years of consequences.
Instead, he held out his hand.
"Claire Bennett, would you be willing to start dating your husband?"
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
"That's ridiculous."
"I know."
"We're already married."
"Technically."
I studied him.
He looked older than the man in Hannah's photograph.
More tired.
Less certain.
Better.
I placed my hand in his.
"One date."
Grant smiled.
"One date."
"Don't get excited."
"Too late."
Then a voice came from behind us.
"Are you guys getting married again?"
Eli.
I turned.
Hannah stood near the entrance, laughing.
They were in town for the weekend.
"You planned this?" I asked Grant.
"No."
Eli ran toward us.
"I told Mom we should surprise you."
I looked at Hannah.
She shrugged.
"He's persistent."
The four of us ended up eating together.
At the table where my marriage had once fallen apart.
May you like
And sometime between dinner and dessert, I realized I wasn't sitting among the ruins anymore.
We were building something.
